Choo choo!

Joe has been enjoying the train set that Santa brought him! When he wants to play with it he will often request to play with "tracks." There seems to be a piece missing to make a standard figure eight so we have been improvising. This shape still allows for two places for the boy to sit within the track (one is admittedly a tight fit for him), but leaves a couple dead ends that are a bit confusing for a little boy. The JOE train is a favorite and mostly rides in order, though JEO was chugging a long for a while. You can see him showing it off for Julie on an adventure across the bridge - another favorite feature!

Puffs Are So Puffy!

In other news, we have been meaning to report that B. Bird has moved beyond the world of purees and into that of the puffs. She is a puff fanatic. She eats them very precisely. Not necessarily one at a time (she has been known to clutch several in her little fist at once), but she pops them in her mouth pretty much one at a time. She seldom lets one drop to the floor. Ms. Melissa reports the same is true at school, and that when she is in the high chair with a spread of puffs arrayed before her, and a friend approaches to check it out, she raps her hand on the tray to get Ms. Melissa or Ms. Che's attention. Her friends need to get their own puffs apparently. Have you got this mental picture? Pair it with the one you got when we reported that Ms. Che told us Clara would march (crawl) herself right over to any friend who took the toy with which she was playing and take it right back a la "Oh no you didn't!" Clearly, Our Bird has spunk in spades.

Birdie Gets a Toofem

Big news, Bird Nation! She has a silver stallion shirt! No! We mean, she DOES have a silver stallion shirt (and it is super fine), but the big news is not the silver stallion shirt. The big news is her first tooth has broken through! Stats: front, bottom, right. My but she has been a stoic little lady. The only signs that something was afoot was her being "off her feed," as Grandpa Trump would say (i.e. she was not so keen on nursing--throwing Julie for a loop as Joe LOVED nursing when teething), and her gnawing on everything, particularly a plastic broccoli that came with a pot that sings to the wee ones about the joys of eating colorful foods. In retrospect, she was perhaps working her two fingers a bit more. In any case, the tooth is not visible in either of these pictures, but it can be felt, and can be seen at close range.

Clara's First Christmas

Now Fans, settle. We know. You're all like, "What did Clara do on her first Christmas? We see a flash of her in the video and what? That's it?" But you know already: Baby Bird was all up in it, just like the Bright-Eyed Bird she is. She was everywhere. She spent some quality time chewing on a plastic tree that came with a jar o' farm animals that Santa brought, and she was a big fan of the fabric washing machine toy that she was given by Aunt Kate that has crinkly squares with pictures of clothing on them that can be taken in and out and pre-washed, if you will, as she is seen doing here. She also showed off her reindeer-footed pajamas and sparkly pink hat.

Photo Editor's note: Look at those puppies flanking Ted and Baby Bird on the sofa. What a picture of Christmas contentment. Why, it's almost like a picture print by Currier and Ives! Before you sigh that wistful sigh, we wish to report that Christmas morning, Berenice chewed another hole in one of the chair cushions and today, Raleigh ate the leftovers of the desserts from Christmas dinner.

And In This Corner

Julie's mom, aka Grandma Connie, surprised Julie with a gold puffy vest Christmas morning. Our Hero took an immediate shine to it. Julie understood. It was gold, it was puffy, it had a flat out fabulous collar (that can be worn in two equally fab ways!), so what wasn't to love? Joe demand to be enrobed in it with all deliberate speed. Ted said he looked like a prize fighter. Our Hero, Our Toughie.

Christmas morning

Breaking news!!! Santa came to Joe and Clara Jane's house! Here is how it went down this morning...*

* There is reference to a pickle ornament that is always placed in a challenging to find location.

Christmas Eve Pajamas

The first Christmas Julie spent at 27 Camel Hollow Road, she learned of the New-Pajamas-To-Be-Opened-Christmas-Eve tradition, and as a lifelong pajama lover, she thought, "Wow. This is the coolest tradition ever. EVER!!!!!" And so it continues. Tonight, before Clara's bath, we--Joe--opened four pairs of pajamas. Joe wanted Julie to help him with the paper at first, but he caught on quick and then ripped with abandon, as you can see in the live action shot. He opened his first and said, "Pants!", and then "A shirt!" Later, he put the pants on his head. Now, keep your pajama pants on, Dear Readers--you'll see plenty of the pajamas in tomorrow's pictures of the opening of all the loot. (Pictures of the loot pre-opened provided though.)

Snow record!

We got about 4 more inches of snow overnight earning us the distinction of the snowiest December on record at 33 inches! We have a lot more winter to get through and we are running out of places to shovel all this snow. This morning Joe helped Ted shovel the walk and driveway. By the time we were done shoveling, Clara had gone down for her nap, so Julie came outside to inspect our work. We put down a little salt on the stairs, and then went for a quick spin in the sled (Joe asked that Mommy walk next to him) before heading in for some dry clothes and snack!

I wait for mommy!

Whenever Julie takes a shower, Joe insists on sitting on his stool and waiting for her. He will sit still for a good 10 minutes just waiting. This morning, Raleigh also wanted to wait, so it was a crowded bathroom!

Give peas a chance

Joe and Clara wish everyone a peas-full Christmas!

Blankets

When we got home this past Friday, there was a pocket of time in which Julie flopped down on the sofa with a throw pillow and blanket to look at the tree. Joe seemed to be wondering just what this was all about, and promptly got his own blanket and tossed himself down at the other end. There was some confusion about whether he wanted the red side of his blanket on top, or the brown, and in retrospect, it may have been that his toddler mind (with absolute appreciation for absolutes, and none for variety or subtlety) wanted the impossibility of an all red blanket or an all brown blanket. Julie flipped his blanket this way and that all the while explaining that they should really be gazing at the Christmas tree and maybe wrestling with their feet, but it was all to no avail and soon enough, it was time for her to nurse Clara and blanket hour (moment?) was over. But Sunday, Joe fixed himself up a whole little nest. He got out all the blankets from the basket in the living room, and nestled the throw pillow up there ("No! No! Stay there pillow!"; always a hoot to hear Joe reprimand inanimate objects). This was after he'd read books with Clara so presumably he wanted a little rest.

*In the first picture, keen-eyed observers will note that Joe is holding Grandma Jane's bowl. He will sometimes request various bowls be taken down from the top of the bookshelves, but this is the only one he is allowed because it isn't breakable.

At the Zoo

Sunday afternoon, after the bambini woke up from their naps, we were all pattering around when Joe announced he wanted to read some books. Oh not be read to! And not in the living room! On the couch! Julie was expressly ordered to stay "not in the living room," by which Joe meant she was to remain in the dining room where she was when she offered to read some books to him, and maybe Baby Clara Jane. No, no! Joe was going to read some books, in the living room, on the couch, to Baby Clara Jane. And Fans, you should have seen him. He got At the Zoo out, clambered up on the couch, Clara hot on his heels the whole time. Ted was permitted to lift Baby Bird on to the couch and then Joe "read" her At the Zoo, the whole way through. He's got it memorized, and Ted reports that Joe turned the pages at exactly the right times.

In a related sidebar, last Friday, Ted needed to be to work by 8am, and so anticipated taking the bus. We were running ahead of schedule so we ended up all leaving together in the car as usual, but Ted had prepped Joe that he would be taking the bus to work. Joe chatted him up on this point and noted that he could "take the crosstown train."*

*If you're not in possession of Simon and Garfunkel's Collected Works, or whichever album At the Zoo is on, you might find it helpful to google At the Zoo's lyrics. Our At the Zoo book is that song in book form. Listeners will note that the lyric in this case is actually "but you can take the crosstown bus," but Joe did say train as he was laying out all the options for Ted.

Six Years

This past Saturday was also Ted and Julie's wedding anniversary. That's right, Fans. It's been six years. Haven't they gone by in a blink? To celebrate this year, Julie found a sitter and Ted found a restaurant and we went out like fancy pants grown ups! Ted also got Julie some earrings with birds on them since this is the year Our Bird came to us. He got them at a store Julie mentioned but once liking! That Ted. . .But enough about all that. You're in this for news of the Bird herself, and her erstwhile, older sidekick. That was all prelude to the point of this post which is headed your way!

So Julie asked Ms. Che to sit. Ms. Che is one of the teachers in Clara's room, who also cared for Joe when he was in that room. When we arrived home after dinner, we chatted for a few minutes with Ms. Che who was telling us how much fun she had seeing the kids in their homes. She was amazed how talkative Joe is, and noted that he put the dogs right in their place when they were trying to lick her. Then we compared notes on Clara. Ms. Che reports that Our Bird motors everywhere around the room with John, and if something falls on the floor while the bigger kids in the room are eating, she is on it like white on rice. She's got definite ideas about which toys she likes, and is apparently a big fan of the "sensory bottle" [read: clear plastic water bottle filled with different stuff] with tissue paper inside it. If a "friend" takes her toy of the moment, Clara will, in Ms. Che's words, "look at the 'friend' who took it like 'Oh no you didn't,'" and go over and take it back and then take herself someplace else with it. Then we talked all about how Clara seems to want to twirl her hair. She tries hard (as you can see in the picture here), but since she obviously doesn't have enough hair to do this, she is all about other people's hair. So it was the perfect end to a perfect sixth wedding anniversary, comparing notes on Our Hero and Baby Bird.

Happy Birthday Graham!

This past Saturday was also Graham's THIRD birthday! He had a birthday bash at the Kenwood Gym (imagine a Little Gym, or a Gymboree, but with serious gymnastics classes for the older set). Joe talked about the party pretty much all day long. We arrived, and Our Hero was, at first, stymied. A six year old's birthday was wrapping up at a table in the back and he wanted to make a beeline for that table. He didn't know what all this talk of parachutes and trampolines and "playing" was all about, but he was pretty sure that wasn't the party because he was also pretty sure that a birthday party was supposed to have birthday cake, and that birthday cake can usually be found under the balloons. He allowed himself to be guided on the fringes of the playing, but he could not be coaxed on to the trampoline. (Here, we pause to tell our readers that this trampoline was a long rectangle, at the end of which was a deep mat, and the kids went hopping down the trampoline and into the mat. The Birthday Boy is a champ at this activity, and had the smile to prove it.) Joe was first to the table once the interlopers had vacated with their misleading balloons, and helped set the napkins out. After he ate, he turned to Julie and said "I want to play?" We just had it all backwards you see. (Clara just took this all in. She is reserving judgment for now as to what exactly constitutes a birthday. She is pretty sure it is both cake and playing, but uncertain if the order is as critical as her older brother would have her believe.)

Oh, and for the rest of the weekend, Joe noted to us that Graham was at the Kenwood Gym. Apparently, Graham now lives at the Kenwood Gym.

*Special thanks to Mr. Pat for the photo of Clara. Yeah, he's got like a fancy lens that makes the background all blurry and professional like.

Kitchen in the Kitchen

Saturday mornings, after the whirlwind that is getting everyone breakfasted, groomed as appropriate, dressed if necessary, and the week's menu planned and the grocery lists made, the boys head out while the girls stay in. The boys go to Joe's Little Gym class and usually do some or all of the shopping, and Julie and Clara begin the week's cleaning. Clara never lasts too long before it's time to nurse her and put her down for her nap and then Julie tries to finish the rest as fast as she an and start lunch so we can all eat together before the boys get home. This past Saturday, the bambini slept a little late so Clara's schedule was running behind by about half an hour. The kitchen is usually the first room Julie cleans so Julie dragged Clara's little kitchen into the big kitchen so they could both be in their kitchens! Clara made all her kitchen's bells and whistles go, and tried really hard to hoist herself up on it before moving on to trying really hard to hoist herself up on the lowest drawer of the four alongside the sink. She got into the drawer, too, which is where some of the tupperware has lived since Joe was about the age she is now. She got up on her hands and knees a lot, but would flop back down before propelling herself forward. She was so tired after all that, she took a three hour nap!

It's the Bee's Knees!

It's true, Fans. You've seen a very similar picture before with different commentary. But the string photographer promptly got sick after taking these pictures, and so neglected to tell the reporter what the story was. These photos were meant to accompany our report that for the past two weeks or so, the B. Bird has been trying to figure out how her knees fit into this whole crawling bit. She is hampered at home by the fact that we do not have carpet. But we have had reports from school that she will get up on all fours and rock back and forth like a horse. She is a very persistent lady so maybe it won't be too long before she's really flying around the floors here!

Chatting

As we've reported, one can now actually chat with Joe. Here's part of the conversation we had on the way home from school yesterday. You need to know two things to get your bearings: 1. this month's theme in Joe's room is food so they have been sampling various kinds of fruit and 2. while we were waiting at a light, a school bus pulled up on our left in the left-hand turn lane immediately preceding this exchange.

Julie: "Did you try grapefruit today?"

Joe: "Yeah."

Julie: "What color was it?"

Joe: "I think it's red and yellow." [Beat.] "We don't eat the yellow part! Only the red part!"

Julie: "Was it sour?"

Joe: "Yeah."

[Later.]

Julie and Ted: "It's a school bus!"

Joe: "A school bus!"

Joe [momentarily]: "Come! Come! Come on school bus. Follow me! The light is green! [Go, Dogs, Go! reference]"

Ted and Julie [overlapping]: "The bus is turning left. It can't follow us."

Joe: "It's going to Dr. Harrington?" [because to go to Dr. Harrington, one turns left at the next light from the road we were on]

[Clara cries.]

Joe: "It's o-kay, Sweetheart. It's o-kay, Sweetheart. We be home soon. Almost there. Yeah." [verbatim what Julie will say on any given night when Clara begins to cry on the way home]

Scene.

And the New (Solo) Pick Up

When it's possible, Julie likes to pick up Ted on her way back across the river so we can pick Joe and Clara up together. This week, it hasn't worked out, so Julie has done pick up on her own. She used to collect Clara and then go collect Joe, but when Ted picked them up solo when Julie was sick, he did the reverse. So Julie tried that and it was a revelation! So now, she goes to get Joe who barrels into her for hugs, and then wrestles himself into his coat, hat, and mittens (Julie assists only with starting the zipper, fastening the hat, and helping Joe get his thumbs in the thumb pocket but only if requested). Then, we go to find Clara. Once we have, Joe tears in and right over to her and plops himself down and starts giving her toys. It's very sweet. Clara is wrestled (for real--it's a wresting match with Flips McGee) into her puffy and then off we go! Joe carries the red basket with the bottles and other school detritus in it, and Julie carries Clara. Once we get to the car, Joe is instructed to wait by the car and told, "Don't move a muscle!" He then repeats this in a super loud voice. Julie's heart remains in her throat until she can get Clara buckled in, but actually, Joe really doesn't move a muscle! Once Joe is in, we head for home! Lately, we've been listening to the Sandra Boynton Philadelphia Chickens album. Joe knows some of the words to "Cows," and it's kind of a kick when he sings along.

The New Drop Off

Fans, Our Hero has been struggling when we drop him off at school. He cries and clings to one of us (of late, usually Ted). We have been peeling him off and beating as hasty a retreat as we can, and we know that he has stopped crying and wailing probably even before we've reached the main door at the end of the hallway, but we were at a loss as to what to do to eliminate the crying and wailing entirely. Recently, it seemed he'd moved past this behavior, but then it was resurgent. Was it that he didn't feel well? Was it that he was playing us? A little of both and something else, too, maybe?

Monday, Joe's teacher, Maneesha (or Ms. Maneesha Fox, as Joe would say), called Julie at work and suggested a plan that would play on Our Hero's love of books (MsManeesha Fox is fabulous). The plan is that before leaving home, Joe selects one book, and if he walks into his room with a big smile on his face, MsManeeshaFox will read it to him right away. (A bonus sidelight of this plan unknown to MsManeehsaFox is that Joe loves to have his name written on the items brought to school.) Yesterday, we executed the plan for the first time. There was a fraught moment when MsManeeshaFox was coming out of Joe's room to deliver her Secret Santa gift as we were headed in (How would she see Joe's big smile and read the book right away?!), but Joe rolled with it. We accompanied MsManeeshaFox on her first delivery and then headed to Joe's room and waited for her in "the library." She came, we left, Joe smiled, and we did, too!

On the Loose!

We had been popping Clara in her Excersaucer for a bit in the mornings after dressing her and Joe, as we finished final packing for the expedition that is leaving the house for the day. But this morning, we left her to roam as we do at other times and on weekends. She motored right on out of her room after Joe. She makes a beeline for Julie as soon as she hears her or sees her, but this morning, she was also on the the little handheld vacuum cleaner like white on rice. Joe, in turn, was on Clara like white on rice for that! ("No, Clara, no! Don't touch!") He of course does not remember that when he was as old as Clara is now, and Julie would be fixing her hair in the bathroom after he was nursed and dressed (now Julie gets herself mostly together before everyone else is up), he used to motor on in to the bathroom and go right for the cover of the bolt that connects the toilet to the floor (which Clara also adores; clearly Fisher Price has missed the boat on this one).

I love you! No, I love YOU!

Here are Julie and Joe at stories-before-bedtime tonight. Joe decreed that he wanted to sit in Mommy's lap, and upon nestling himself in, he announced, "I love my MOM-my." Julie replied, "I love my JO-seph." Back and forth they went before settling in to Spot Goes to the Farm and Green Eggs and Ham. Julie soaked this all up because, it must be noted, of late, there have been more than a few times when she has been holding Joe as he wails "I want Daaaaadddddyyyyy!!!!!" Who can blame him? Ted's pretty great. What is also pretty great is how, seemingly all of a sudden, we can now chat with Joe--like real back and forth--and now, you never know when our Joseph is going to sidle on up and tell you he loves you.

*The second shot seen here is a bonus shot in which Joe can be seen saying "CHEESE!" for all he's worth, but not "Cheese for the camera!" as he has been known to parrot back exactly as you have instructed when you have said "Say cheese for the camera!"

Where is Uncle Scott?

Joe had gotten into a routine of seeing Uncle Scott in the morning. Ted would carry him into the living room to see Scott on the sofa usually with Raleigh lying on top of him - yes, these were the fine accommodations we offered - we don't call it the Raleigh House for nothing! Though Scott left on Friday, Joe still woke up this Sunday morning and said "Where is Uncle Scott?...I want to see Uncle Scott and Raleigh."

Uncle Scott not only entertained Joe and Clara this past week, but he managed to get two plumbing problems fixed, take apart clean and reassemble the gunked up laundry machine, patch the ceiling crack that irked Ted for the past 5 years, buy groceries, cook dinner all week, cook and freeze two batches of soup, bake 5 batches of cookies for Julie's cookie exchange, clean the house at least twice, do multiple loads of laundry, do our shopping, and a variety of other fun chores around the house! So we are mostly healthy now with a clean house and stocked fridge and freezer thanks to Uncle Scott (but not Raleigh)!

I want to wash hands!

One of Joe's favorite past times is washing dishes in the sink. However, when he wants to do this, he says "I want to wash hands!" which is a bit confusing since he knows what washing his hands means. After dinner is a standard time for Joe to want to wash hands/dishes. We usually start with a clean sink and put in a few pieces of plastic dish ware for him to pour water in and out of. But lately, he has been getting everything but the kitchen sink to put in the kitchen sink. The past week or so he was ransacking the small drawer that holds measuring cups, measuring spoons, and cookie cutters. Those were pretty small, so they were easy to clean up. Tonight, while Ted was in the other room, Joe managed to empty his usual drawer plus an entire drawer of tupperware and a drawer with utensils like the rolling pin. This was quite a surprise when walking in, but fortunately they are all clean and just need to dry now. I will trade that for the half hour of focused play!

What we make today?

Almost without fail, the first words out of Joe's mouth when he wakes up in the morning or after nap is "what we make today?" By that, he wants to know what we are making to eat. This likely started because on weekend mornings, Ted would sit on Joe's bed while he woke up and ask him what we should make today...pancakes or waffles or eggs or cereal. We now routinely keep pancakes for Sunday and all other days are cereal, but Joe still asks, even if it's not morning. He also asks any time he is hungry and sees us milling about the kitchen. Tonight it was a burrito for Joe, and since Julie had to go out to a cookie exchange, Ted ate a burrito too! Burrito dinner for Joe has the added bonus of being served on the cutting board - so of course Ted followed suit! These are the momentous occasions on a snow bound weekend!

Snow Flakes

Indeed, Our Hero had more fun hanging up the snow flakes with tape than he did making his own attempt at making them, or watching Julie make them. Joe handed Julie snow flakes to put tape on, and then Julie lifted Joe up to do the actual sticking of the snow flake to the window pane. To get as high as we wanted to to keep the snow flakes out of harm's (read: the dog's) way, we had to stand on the kitchen (read: Joe's) stool. Clara supervised from the high chair--you know, "a little higher; no, a little to the left; perfect!" Our readers may be interested to know that Joe declared his favorite to be the snowflake that can be seen in the center pane of the topmost row, bottom left hand corner.

SNOW DAY!

To our far flung Fans, let us just say, it's a winter wonderland out there, here, today! The blizzard predicted to rival the Great Halloween Blizzard of '91 has hit and is all that was promised. So we have had a proper snow day all tucked up inside, every one of us in our pajamas. We--the people with teeth anyway--had bacon and eggs for breakfast. Then, Joe and Julie did the dishes while Clara motored around on the floor and into the Excersaucer, which is one of her favorite things to do. Julie and Joe made some snowflakes. Joe called the paper circles before their transformation "someone's moon." He wasn't really feelin' the scissors today, but maybe he'll be excited about hanging up the snowflakes Julie made because that will involve tape!

Baby Bird Flaps Her Wings

Clara started up with the coughing yesterday evening, and even though it sounded different and there wasn't a whole constellation of symptoms as with Joe, given that Joe is still walking about with pneumonia, just the be on the safe side, Julie took Clara in today, too. She has "just a cold." We are, strangely, relieved. Since the visit wasn't followed by a trip to the pharmacy, Julie found herself at home with Clara well in advance of "normal" time. And after Ted and Uncle Scott left to get Joe and bread to have with dinner*, B. Bird and Julie were on their own. They had a high flying time. Clara's new thing of late is to windmill her arms around everywhere and smile and screech. Fans, it's a cute as it sounds. She is a bucketful of darling when she does this. After we finished up our apple puree with grains (or Gerber Apple with whole grain infant cereal), Julie pushed Clara, in high chair, into the kitchen, where we listened to the Glee Christmas album and waved our arms at each other. (Julie also washed the bottles.) The boys came home right as this all ceased to be fun for Clara and she was whisked off to the bird bath!

*Uncle Scott has learned this week that Raleigh loves himself a loaf of bread. Ribbons ate up some bread--from Rustica--that was waiting to go back into the mouse-proof pot that had been used for soup and was cooling down that never went back in the pot because Julie called Scott to assist in pharmacy run and Clara pick-up yesterday. Oh we forgot to mention that the mice were back? Yeah. Everyone wants to live at Raleigh House. But the mice cannot live at Raleigh House.